Corporate governance and financial performance of public listed companies: Pre and post implementation of the Malaysian code of corporate governance

Abstract

This study examine the impact of corporate governance and ownership structures on firm performance of 293 companies listed on the Main and Second Board of Bursa Malaysia six-years before and after the implementation of Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in 2001. Institutional and foreign shareholdings were found to be significantly associated with both market and accounting performance measures before and after implementation of MCCG, implying their positive roles on performance. Contrary to the recommendation by MCCG, role duality (positions of Chairman and CEO were the same person) was observed to be negatively related to accounting performance measures but in the opposite direction for market performance measures. The result is robust with respect to controls for firm size and gearing.